Identity
by Ashi-Grey
Summary: Tabitha Dursley was quite happy with her life. She was beautiful a teen model and had a loving father. Now though it seems as though her dad isn't her dad, and she's being shipped off to Hogwarts, a place she never even knew existed... Albus/OC
1. Being a Dursley

I've had this story saved to my computer for almost a year now... and I've finally started uploading it! I've always wondered how Dudley's life was changed by the war... and here's my version! Well... the story about his daughter anyway =]

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Dudley Dursley regretted almost all of his younger life. He regretted being horrible to his cousin Harry, and he regretted believing his parents; all the lies they told him about him being superior and special and perfect. He regretted falling in with the wrong crowd, doing drugs, ruining his boxing career by failing a drug test pre match. The one thing he didn't regret, was taking his foster daughter in. He wished he could tell her he wasn't her real dad, but he didn't have the heart.

He didn't know who her real father was or even who her mother was. Dudley's parents had died a few years previously (His mother had a heart attack from all of the stress and his father's weight never helped), so he was back living in his childhood home. It was a horrible night, when she arrived, smashed off her head, wearing barely anything, her hair wet from the storm raging outside.

She had knocked on the door, and he opened it, only to receive a slap on the face.

"This is yours!!! I never wanted this! This is all your fault! I never want to see you again, no matter what for! I couldn't care less!"

She was screaming, tears streaming down her face. He took the bundle handed to him in a daze. She span around and slammed his door in his face. True to her word, he never saw her again.

However, he took the baby to the hospital, and had her blood tested. She wasn't his after all.

He was reminded forcibly about his parents taking Harry in.

But Dudley took care of his daughter. Though they had little money, with Dudley working in a small office job, she was well cared for, and for the first time in his life, Dudley had something he cared for, truly. Someone he loved.

She was a quiet child at first. Dudley worked long hours to provide for her, and so she spent most of her young days in child care.

Dudley's boss was pleased with the diligence of this young man, and felt sorry for him and his young daughter, and so Dudley was promoted fast, allowing him more money. So he moved his daughter to better child care, where she wasn't so bullied, and eventually he was allowed to work flexi time, and occasionally from home, so he was always there when she came home from school.

Harry Potter would hardly recognize his cousin now. Dudley was much slimmer, and his love for his daughter had much improved his personality.

The one thing that worried Dudley was his daughter's... strangeness.

At the age of ten, despite sometimes doing child modelling, she was shy and didn't believe in herself. She always hated the photos of herself when they appeared in magazines, shiny and perfect, and she hated it when strangers came up to her and fluffed her brown hair as it rippled red in the sunlight.

She was always well spoken of by her teachers, and her studies always came first.

Dudley worried a little that she wasn't getting the childhood that he wanted her to have, already working as such, she didn't have many close friends, and rarely ever went out partying or just to the cinema.

The one thing was though, her and her dad shared everything. There wasn't anything that he didn't tell her. He let her make her own choices in life, after he had told her all the facts and his feelings on the matter.

When she was eleven, Dudley had a little niggling worry in the back of his mind. The one thing he didn't tell her about was magic. He knew she sometimes did things she couldn't explain, such was one time before a shoot she had a spot, and she locked herself in the toilet saying no one should see her looking that bad. About ten minutes later a tear stained girl came out, her skin perfect just as before.

But, much to Dudley's relief, she didn't receive a letter at the age of eleven.

She went to the local high school, but as her modelling became more and more serious, they had enough money, and she moved to the private school in the area.

She was treated like a celebrity. She hated it. Of course, she told Dudley this, but he explained that she needed to do well in her education, unlike him. She was clever and brilliant. She should just ignore them.

They were a rare case of father and daughter being best friends, even when she was a teenager.

It was the first of September, she was fifteen. She would be back at school for her fifth year, doing her GCSEs. Her dad had been called into work, and she had an inset day. Alone, she had wandered around London, signing the occasional autograph. She didn't mind, so long as people didn't crowd her.

One thing she had never done, was go on a train. Smiling, she walked into King's Cross Station.

She spent about an hour wandering the platform for about an hour. It was now quarter to eleven, and she was stood by the barrier between 9 and 10.

Sighing, she leant against the barrier.

And fell through.

She landed with a thump, hitting her head hard on the platform. Everything went a little fuzzy, but she didn't black out completely.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked

"Yeah. I guess."

"I'm Harry. Potter."

A little light bulb went on in her head.

"Do you know my dad? Dudley Dursley? I think he mentioned you."

The man gaped at her. A red headed woman came over and slapped him on the arm

"Harry! Stop being rude and help her up!"

Grinning bashfully the man helped her up.

"Yeah. I know your dad. He's my cousin."

A whistle went off, and Harry and the redhead turned and waved the scarlet engine off. They turned back to the beautiful girl in front of them.

"Sweetie, what are you doing here? How could you get through the barrier? I'm Ginny Potter by the way."

"Uh, I don't know. What's going on? I leant on a wall and I fell through! Is this yet another publicity thing? I'm fed up of those you know. If you want a photo, please just ask."

"No, no. We just wondered what you're doing here, that's all." Ginny confirmed

"Oh thank god! You have no idea how awful the press are!"

Harry and Ginny shared a look.

"No, believe me, I do. I'm probably more famous than you are." Harry told her

"Oh. Well thank god for that!"

"Come on, we better go and find Harry's cousin. Do you know where your dad works?" Ginny asked

"Yeah. I think he's busy today though. I don't want to disturb him."

"I'm sure he'll understand. We really need to speak to him. Immediately."

Dudley had come home from work immediately after his daughter's call. Harry had been awkward, but Dudley had greeted him with an open hug and a smile, shocking Harry slightly. After a catch up, his daughter sat on the sofa, very much dazed.

How could one day change her life so radically?

How could her dad, not be her dad?

How could... Magic... exist?

It was crazy.

The worst part? She felt guilty. If she hadn't gone into the station, she wouldn't have had her world turned upside down. Her dad wouldn't be sat here, almost in tears.

Harry did something with his wand, and a bright, glowing stag burst from the end, and then bounded off.

Ginny turned to the dazed girl on the sofa

"Are you alright? Harry's sent a message to the headmaster of the school, Hogwarts. You see, I'm not sure why they didn't know you were a witch earlier, but it comes down to this, you can't get through the barrier unless you have magic."

She nodded mutely, her grey eyes locked onto the coffee table in front of her.

He dad put a hand on her shoulder

"You know I'll always love you, no matter what. But you're gonna have to go and stay at Harry and Ginny's for a little while. I promise it will all work out."

Harry watched his cousin in amazement.

Ginny helped to pack everything, waving her wand and sending everything into a big leather trunk. An owl tapped on the window of her room. She opened the window, and it flew in, startling her.

Ginny nodded to her, so she undid the letter from the tawny's leg. Picking the deep red seal off the parchment, she unfolded the letter.

_Dear Tabitha Dursley,_

_I am very sorry that his letter is coming to you so late. You should have received this at the age of eleven._

_For some reason you did not. This is our mistake, and do not think you will suffer for it, we will give you extra tuition so that you will catch up._

_I hope you accept my apology, and that you enjoy your stay at the Potter's._

_Sincerely,_

_Neville Longbottom_

_Headmaster._

She hugged her father goodbye, tears whispering in her light grey eyes, and took hold of Ginny's hand as instructed.

A horrible squeezing feeling left her dizzily looking up at a beautiful house. It was about three stories high, a big, old farmhouse, with a barn conversion sitting just across the courtyard.

The contrast between the old wooden beams, the terracotta red of the old bricks and the clean cut, modern feel of the glass made the house feel loved and full of character. As many of the original features as possible had been kept.

She was led up the cobbled path, her suitcase bobbing behind her.

The door was opened by a very strange looking creature, causing Tabitha to shriek and jump backwards. The creature gave her a withering look and shook its head, making its wrinkled ears to waft comically.

"Master Harry and Mistress Ginny! Kreacher has made you's lunch."

"Thanks Kreacher. This is Tabitha. She's a witch, but she only just found out."

Kreacher looked back at the girl that was now walking, open-mouthed, through the beautiful house.

"Of course, Master. Kreacher will take care of the girl."

"Thanks. Has James or Al forgotten anything this year?"

"No, Kreacher packed for them this year. Mistress Lily seems to have forgotten her broom however."

Harry smiled. His youngest daughter hated quidditch with a passion, and was always doing anything she could to get out of it.

He sighed and walked to the study; being head of the auror office meant a lot of annoying paperwork.

"Right, Tabby, I can call you Tabby?" Ginny asked, leading the girl into the large open plan sitting room

"Yeah."

"Okay, first you must know that you're welcome here whenever you want to come, no matter what, alright?"

Tabby nodded

"Okay, next thing is that Harry is exactly the same as you. He doesn't have any parents either, so if you ever need to talk to someone about that, Harry is a good person to ask. We're both here for you, okay?"

She nodded.

"Right. Now last but not least, I'm afraid you probably need a history lesson. There's been some terrible things that have happened..."

It took Ginny over an hour to explain everything to a wide eyed Tabby, and once it was done, a still very much shocked Tabby and a worried Ginny moved to the kitchen where they sat on the marble worktops, eating wizarding sweets, shrieking and giggling as the chocolate frogs jumped around them.

It was now nearing lunch time, but Ginny and Tabby just grabbed some soup off Kreacher and slurped it down, much to the amusement of Harry.

As the sales would now be on as the children had all gone back to Hogwarts, Ginny and Tabby decided to go to Diagon Alley and get everything she would need to start school with.

"Sweetie, we'll pay for it all, don't worry about it!"

"No, I can't let you do that! Besides which, I have far too much money that my dad won't let me give to him to help him. He says it's mine"

Her voice caught on the word dad, but she ignored it.

"Oh no! They're gonna go mad at the agency!" Tabby exclaimed, looking scandalised

Ginny frowned

"What agency?"

"Um... I've been modelling since I was about eight. First as a child model, now as a teen model. I'm quite well known, I guess, but I hate all the publicity that goes with it. That's why I freaked when we were on the platform."

Harry looked livid

"My excuse of a cousin forced you to work from the age of eight?!??!"

"No! It was my decision, and my dad isn't an 'excuse of a cousin'! He's the best dad you could ever have!"

Ginny glared at Harry when he opened his mouth to reply, and he shut it pretty fast.

"I'm sure the agency will understand. Don't worry about it. Besides which, maybe you'll be able to fit it in around your school work and in holidays?"

"Maybe."

Tabby stumbled out of the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron, and decided she hated flooing almost as much as she hated apparating

But she definitely didn't hate Diagon Alley. She loved it. It was a beautiful patchwork of colour. Magical.

Lots of people came up to the Potters as they wandered Diagon Alley, wanting photos, autographs and some just wanted to shake hands with the savoir of the wizarding world.

She'd been getting funny looks, but she was used to it. One witch came over to the group, and after the usual greeting to the Potters, she turned to Tabby.

"You're Tabitha Dursley, aren't you? My daughter adores you!"

"Thanks."

"Thought you were a muggle, though. Why were you modelling for muggles when you're a witch?"

"Well, uh, I only just found out I'm a witch."

"But you're far too old to be eleven!"

"Yeah. I know. They made a mistake up at Hogwarts."

The lady nodded and wandered off.

The Potters looked at Tabby worriedly

"Oh don't worry about me. I've had people shout abuse at me across a street before now. At least her daughter likes me."

They nodded and moved on.

Tabby moved all of her muggle money into the wizarding bank. Well, Harry did it for her, but anyway.

When he had done, he came over to her, looking a little surprised

"Do you know how much money you have?"

"Enough?"

"More than, I'll say! You won't ever need to work ever again! And you've not even started your education!"

Ginny slapped him, again.

"Well, you didn't need to either! All that money you got from your parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks, all those Death Eaters who you beat, Tom Riddle himself. Not to mention the reward money from the ministry! I don't think you should be embarrassing her!"

Harry looked bemusedly at his wife, and then at Tabby.

"Okay. Sorry. Basically, if you want it, go get it. You don't need to worry. Have fun shopping! I'm gonna go see George in WWW, okay?"

Ginny nodded

"Bye!"

They bought everything she would need, and Tabby was slowly getting used to the currency.

They returned to the Barn, ate dinner, and played wizarding chess on the big rug in front of the fire, before going to bed, Tabby sleeping in the spare room.

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So... this is a bit more mary-sue than my other story, and it'll probably be shorter as well. I'm not intending putting any dark plot lines or evil villians in it, but most of my stories end up with some or other evil guy in them!

please review!


	2. Velvet and Sunny, Green Hills

_Sorry for the ridiculous wait! _

_For those of you that don't read 'Heels', I just wanted to let you know that I'm going into hospital tomorrow to have an 'intensive treatment course'. It could either make me a lot better, or a lot worse... so with me luck!_

_Hope you enjoy it =]_

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Albus Potter was not a happy bunny. He was cold, freezing, and very mad at his older brother

"What the flip are you playing at James? Are you insane!? We're all freezing out here! Soon you'll have your precious quidditch team in the hospital wing with hypothermia!"

James looked at his younger brother with a mix of bemusement and annoyance "Well why don't you quit then!"

Albus gave a feral grin "Because then you'd be short of a beater, and you'd lose your pretty little house cup!"

"And what makes you think there isn't someone better than you out there, hmm?!" James snarled back

Albus's grin didn't falter "Because I'm the best beater there is in Hogwarts. Everyone knows that."

"Well right at this moment you're just the spoilt little brother of the quidditch captain! So buck your ideas up and bloody show me some respect!" James screamed

Tabitha Dursley shrank back into the shadows of the quidditch stands, where she was stood watching her adopted cousins for the first time.

It was only a week before Christmas, and her first visit to Hogwarts. She would be starting after Christmas, and Ginny and Harry had been tutoring her night and day since she'd first moved in with them.

After the initial shock had worn off, it had occurred to her just how much she'd left behind. Truthfully, she'd always seen her future being as a model. No one could deny that she was pretty enough, and as her agency said 'her attitude was just as beautiful.'. No one ever had a bad word to say about her, although her dad (she still winced slightly at the word) knew she had a bit of a temper if pushed to the extreme. Not that many people saw the temper; it was a strictly private display of screaming and shouting, reserved for a precious few's eardrums.

She found transfiguration relatively easy, charms alright... but after that it went distinctly downhill. She'd mastered all of the useful hexes and jinxes, and some of the easier curses, but from then on DADA was about as easy as space-hoppering to the moon. Herbology was a big no, no. Potions was downright dangerous. Divination had been given up after the second lesson, Arithmacy was difficult after she ran out of fingers to count. Ancient runes was similar, and complaints of 'why isn't there just a translator spell' were heard echoing through the Barn.

She would be at the very bottom of her year, not that she was overly worried. She was simply looking forward to the experience, and hoping she wouldn't be bullied as she had been in most of her other schools.

Her Dad was a little tear-y eyed as he'd waved her and Harry off. Dudley had been coming round about three times a week, and having dinner with his previously hated cousin, ever since the 1st of September. Ironically, he and Harry now had a pretty good friendship, and Ginny was just about learning to tolerate him. Tabby had never really had any family, other than her Dad (who now wasn't even that...), so finding out she had a massive (albeit adopted) family was a rather bazaar thing.

She'd met Teddy Lupin (Does purple hair suit me? How about green?) and his fiancé Vicky (I am so jealous of you! And I'm part Vela, for pity's sake!) when they came round to discuss wedding plans, glancing sappily at each other and holding hands right through dinner, despite somehow using a knife and a fork each.

She'd met Granny (goodness dear, you could do with a big dinner!) and Pops Weasley (how do J-Pops work again?) at their strange house, that looked as though it should fall down at any moment, although when she asked why it didn't, she got the bemused answer 'magic'.

She'd met George (do have a... custard crème) at his joke shop, laughing about a poor, unsuspecting customer who had become victim to his latest prank (a very immature bucket of water over the door), and Angelina as she stood laughing behind the counter, occasionally casting a drying charm as more and more customers were soaked.

Percy (don't touch that pile! It contains important ministry information!) and his wife, Audrey (Hello dear, don't mind Percy) as they'd raced around getting ready for some 'important and confidential ministry business', although Ginny assured her they put on their workaholic behaviour mainly for show.

He'd met Bill (No Mum, I really don't need a hair cut) and his wife Fleur (Oh la la! Your 'air! Eet est exquisite!" she'd claimed, grabbing Tabby's chestnut hair and trailing her talons through it), and been startled by the man's scarred face, and his wife's dazzling beauty. You could tell where Vicky got it from.

She'd met Charlie, albeit via floo call only (Mum, you don't think Hagrid would make some more rock cakes, do you? They're the only thing the Swedish Blue is eating at the moment, although Merlin knows why anything would eat anything of Hagrid's, and if we don't have some more in the next week, she'll start to go downhill again). Charlie was her favourite relative so far, she decided. He was practical without being excessively showy, funny without being immature and gave off a calm and friendly air that Percy and Audrey seemed to lack so badly.

Yes, much though Bill and Fleur were a very interesting couple, they were too flashy for Tabby. Percy and Audrey were too strict. Granny and Pops were too... too... too caring, almost, as if they were smothering you with too much love. George and his wife Angelina were no more mature than toddlers, Teddy and Vicky were brash and brave and bold and flashy. Too much so, in Tabby's opinion. Harry and Ginny were nice though. Although Harry had a tendency to point a wand at you suddenly if you knocked on his office door and he wasn't expecting you, and Ginny had a tendency to forget she was new to magic. She'd grown very close to Ginny though.

Charlie, however, was a nice, in-the-middle type of person. He wasn't as crazy and flamboyant as Bill and Fleur, he wasn't as goofy as George and Angelina, or as snooty as Percy and Audrey, or as jumpy and battle hardened as Harry and Ginny, or as soppy and romantic as Teddy and Vicky.

She smiled a little then, under the quidditch stands, as she mulled over her time with the Potters and the Weasleys. She'd learnt something very important from that. Charlie was the only normal one, and he was also the only one still single. Therefore, having another half wasn't always the best way to go about things, was it?

Later on it would be one of her most regretted decisions, but at the time it was very sensible and well considered. She would have friends, if she made any, but never a boyfriend. She got enough of boys fawning over her looks as it was, without some kind of spaniel trailing after her every move. No, she was best as a free agent. She would still have the room to spread her wings and fly.

On the other side of the pitch, Albus Potter was the last one still out in the cold, despite his previous claims to his brother. Truth was, he was too angry to talk to anyone at that moment. He just didn't want to know. Instead, he stood on the wet, frozen ground, whacking practice bludgers as hard as he could, the bat giving off a resounding CRACK each time it connected. Tabby stood and watched silently, wondering what on earth could have caused such a violent reaction. She'd heard they two boy's argument; they'd been shouting pretty loudly, but it seemed a little strange to be so angry over a little disagreement?

Well, that was one pretend cousin she wasn't about to be getting overly involved with, beyond the necessary. She couldn't deal with extreme emotions, or people who got angry or sad or even overly happy. To herself, she was Tabby Dursley, the person who would blend into the crowd in every way except for the face.

In fact, she often saw herself as two different people. A Tabitha, who was the confident, polite, charming, sweet model, who the public adored, and Tabby, the soft, slightly sweet, but otherwise very average orphan, who was now, it seemed, a witch.

Albus Potter stormed back inside after almost another hour. To his surprise, both his parents were waiting for him, stood either side of a very beautiful girl, who he recognized almost instantly. Every teenage male knew who she was, not that he'd admit that in front of his parents. Somehow, though, this girl looked different to the pictures. In the pictures, she held herself with a confident, cocky, rude attitude, that dared you to contradict anything she said.

However the girl in front of him was clearly not that. As much as his dad gave off a hardened, protective sort of glow, she gave off this soft, sweet, gently sort of glow. There was no denying she was beautiful, but without her attitude, she wasn't that super sexy badass model, she was the sort of girl you'd see on a tapestry depicting a unicorn being tamed.

He realised with a little jolt that he'd perhaps been staring at her for too long "I'm sorry, are you famous? I think Lily might have some pictures of you somewhere?"

Tabby didn't even realise he'd been staring. She wasn't paying any attention to him – he was the violent one. Harry and Ginny, however, had. They both stifled a smirk, and looked at each other knowingly.

"Hello." She said simply. Albus noted carefully that her voice fitted her perfectly. It wasn't sharp or too high, it was a nice, soothing, smooth voice, like chocolate-y velvet or a perfect green hill in the summer's sun.

A rather large part of his brain shouted at him that he sounded like some kind of drivelling poet, not the sexy, badass beater for Gryffindor that he was, but the smaller part of his brain that seemed to somehow have gained control told him that it didn't matter if he sounded like a washed-up Shakespeare, because he wasn't telling any lies.

Harry, watching his son's reaction, was suddenly hit by a little bit of a theory. Could it be that her beauty wasn't all just good luck? Considering that they didn't know her heritage, could she be part vela? She was beautiful, there was no denying that, and she did seem to give off some kind of entrancing glow.

Harry shook his head like a wet dog. Yes, there was something not quite normal about her.

Ginny watched her son in amusement, as his eyes went a little wide at first, and then glassed over as he stared at Tabby. Tabby, for her part, was blissfully unaware of any such attention, and was looking around the Entrance Hall in amazement.

All was going well for Ginny until she noticed Harry starting to gaze at Tabby in a slightly similar way to Albus... until he shook his head a little, and looked over at her with worried eyes

She felt his feather-like touch on her mind, and welcomed him, although a slight bitter feeling was still in her mouth.

"I think she must be part vela." His voice whispered in her head. "Because Al never loses his cool around girls. James? Yes, but never Al."

"I'll look into it." She muttered back, and Harry withdrew from her mind once more.

Being able to perform legimency, to the extent Harry had achieved, and later taught Ginny, was not some whimsical fancy of his. No, he'd spent months and months working on it. It was his own way of honouring Professor Snape's memory.

Tabby drew her attention away from the intricate carvings above the door, feeling guilty about ignoring her hosts.

"Sorry, I just love this place." She murmured into the silence.

Albus let out a strange gurgle "Mmm...y-yeah me too."

Tabby looked at him, her big brown eyes taking in every detail of her newly found pretend relative. She stepped gracefully forward, her natural coloured pumps silent on the age old floor, holding out a hand carefully, and said one of the few things Albus didn't wanted to hear:

"Hey. I'm Tabitha, although I prefer Tabby. I'm your long lost cousin!"

* * *

"....and she's my bloody cousin!" wailed Albus. His best mate Alfred (although call him that and he'll kill you – it's Alfie or Al) Wood smirked slightly

"Well... more for me?" Came the amused response

Albus groaned again "And I must have spent a good ten minutes just gawping at her!"

Alfie grinned "Didn't Trelawney predict you were gonna do something awful today? Maybe that was it?!"

"Shut it Al!" Was the best Albus could come up with. Ever the joker though, Alfie couldn't resist

"Of course Al."


End file.
